Hilary Achauer talks with the world’s best trainers about CrossFit culture at the annual Training Staff Summit.

“You are the greatest trainers on Earth. That’s a fact. I am so proud of you,” Coach Greg Glassman said to the Level 1 Seminar Staff gathered together for the recent Training Staff Summit in San Diego.

Glassman told the assembled group that he considers them “defenders of the realm.”

“All that is valuable to the ecosystem is guarded, protected by you,” Glassman said.

He continued: “A transmission of our culture happens at the Level 1 Seminar. The culture wasn’t designed by me. It was created by you. The Level 1 Seminar is about learning who we are.”

Indeed, going to a Level 1 Seminar is a rite of passage for most CrossFitters, and friendships made during the sessions inevitably continue after the last squat is done and everyone heads home to teach others how to deadlift. Some athletes go to many Level 1s long after they can recite the lectures themselves simply because they’re a great place to hang out with other CrossFitters and get better at CrossFit.

The Summit was a lot like a special Level 1 for staff members: they went over lectures and movements, they worked out, they had a lot of fun, and they even took the new and revised Level 1 test.

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